- Beth Butler
Don Butler may call himself an “adrenaline junkie”, but the honest truth is that he is a DUMB@$$. What else can you call a man who would ride out Hurrican Ivan, a storm packing 120 MPH winds and a 20 foot tidal surge? This was not an act of courage. This was an act of ignorance and self-absorption that really does not deserved to be publicized (which, come to think of it, is EXACTLY what I’m doing…oh, well….)
NAVARRE - Don Butler should be dead. He had made his peace with God. He had phoned his wife and told her goodbye.
But then his animal survival instincts kicked in and he fought 120-mph winds, a 20-foot tidal surge and cutting rain to live another day.
Although the waterfront town house where he spent the most trying six hours of his life didn’t make it, he and his dog, Zeus, did. Theirs is a classic tale of human and canine survival.
No, theirs is a classic tale of human stupidity and canine survival despite that stupidity. Yes, Don Butler should, by all rights, be dead. That he has a second chance at life is certainly not due to sound decision-making on his part. His story is part of what makes the work of emergency personnel so difficult. Ultimately, some brave soul might have risked his or her life to save this DUMB@$$. What a waste. When given the opportunity to leave, Butler declined. At that point, it should have been made clear that he was on his own- period. Why should tax dollars be spent and lives risked to rescue someone who refused to leave when it was still safe to do so?
Congratulations to Don Butler, who should be receiving a Darwin Award instead of his DUMB@$$ AWARD. Sometimes, though, people live in spite of their best efforts to the contrary.
